Gender

Hail Sultana: On Drag as Art, Performance, and Expression

Tracy Jawad

Life can be both glamorous and humorous for us all, and like a well-kept secret passed along the generations that have paved the way, Sultana knows this all too well. The boundaries of our self-expression only exist if we choose to abide by them––and she’s chosen freedom.

Lebanon: 9 Years Later, Yacoub’s Husband and Killer Finally Convicted

Maya El Ammar

The daughters’ silence does not mean that during all this time they were uncertain their mother had been wronged and deliberately taken from them too early. If the case proves one thing it is that nothing can cut the tie between a mother and her daughters, while the battle for women’s justice continues …

Climate Justice Requires Gender Justice: a Call to Action for Leaders in Lebanon This International Women’s Day

Daraj Team

Climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time; to stem it in Lebanon requires immediate action and attention. The right mix of policies, skills, incentives, political will and women’s leadership can influence public behavior, encourage the right investments and mitigate devastating outcomes for Lebanon’s cherished environment.

Iraq: The People and Their Problems are Left to the Shrines …

Aya Mansour

With the rise of the religious tide in the country, and the increase in corruption and political division, many Iraqis see no other way to solve their worldly issues than to visit the imams’ shrines, and pray …

Lebanon: ABC Mall Bans the Hijab and Recycles Discrimination

Nourhan Sharaf Eddine

“Fortunately, the terrorists did not use an apple to carry out their suicide bombing, otherwise an entire generation of Chadians would have to grow up without knowing the taste of apples …”

More Stigma Against Transgender People in Iraq

Sinar Hassan

“I couldn’t do anything because I was afraid, then when I went to receive the treatment, the nurse asked me, ‘Are you a boy or a girl? Have we not gotten rid of those [trans people] yet? I thought the clerics and authorities prevented them from being out among us.’

Egypt: Death of a Girl After Blackmail

Eman Adel

Passant Khaled committed suicide following the online publication of fake naked photos of her. Perhaps, with her death and goodbye letter, she wished to shake up her family, her village, and Egyptian society as a whole, for them to truly feel the immense harm caused when girls are bullied and publicly shamed.

Lebanon: Marginalizing the Role of Women in History and Education

Nourhan Sharaf Eddine

The reasons for the marginalization of women are many, including the curriculum for Lebanon’s history books, which was introduced in the 1960s and has not been updated since. Nayla Hamadeh, Ex-President of the Lebanese Association for History (LAH), speaks up.

Yemeni Girls Threatened by Cybercrime and Blackmail

Samia Aghbari

In a tribal and conservative society such as Yemen, publishing a photo or video online of a girl without a veil, eating qat, smoking a shisha, or worse, produces a scandal that could lead to her death. Extortionists increasingly exploit this to get money or information.

Lebanon: Beirut Port Explosion Aggravated Women’s Suffering

Myriam Sweidan

According to the International Rescue Committee, 30,000 women became unemployed following the Beirut port explosion. According to UN Women, 51 percent of those affected concern women-headed households. Here is the story of three of them.